Seven Single Roses
by COFFEEflavoredSNOW
Summary: Someone is leaving Rory roses ...
1. The First Rose

*I don't own Gilmore Girls or Cruel Intentions, but it would be a better world if I did. *grin*  
  
Rory lay, spread all over the couch, watching "Cruel Intentions" by herself, with the exception of a can of soda and bowl of popcorn. Lorelai was at the inn, working. She giggled as Annette made funny faces at the usually serious Sebastian. He cracked a smile on the screen. Rory's thoughts absentmindedly drifted to Tristan. Sebastian and Tristan were very alike, she had noticed. 'Why am I thinking of Tristan? Oh, right. Sebastian.'  
  
She sighed as the doorbell rang. "Who is it?" She called out, unwilling to rise from her perfectly comfortable position. No one responded. Rory groaned and shoved herself up. She walked over to the door and jerked it open, expecting Dean to be standing there. Instead, there was only air. No one was there. "Okay, I should either be annoyed or freaked out. Maybe I should call Dean." She glanced around one last time and turned to go back inside, when something on the ground caught her attention. It was a single, coral colored rose.  
  
Gently, Rory picked it up. There was a small envelope with her name on it taped to the stem. She looked up, her eyes darting around the yard and down the street, but she still saw no one. She gingerly walked into the house and closed the door behind her.  
  
She laid the rose on the kitchen table, opened the envelope, and unfolded the piece of paper waiting inside.  
  
Dear Rory, I want to tell you who I am, but that will mess up my plan. Don't worry, you know me, and I promise I'm not some psycho stalker person. I just thought this would be a cool way of expressing my feelings without having to talk, therefore not making a complete ass out of myself. Coral means 'desire', I desire to tell you who I am and what my feelings are, but I know I can't do that. ?me 'Strange,' Rory thought, 'but it must be from Dean. I'll see him tomorrow and thank him.'  
  
An hour later, Lorelai walked in the door. "Rory! I'm home!" She called, her voice echoing throughout the house.  
  
"Mom, I'm right here." Her daughter answered from the couch. She looked down.  
  
"Oh, hey. What's up?"  
  
"Well I just finished watching 'Cruel Intentions'."  
  
"That's it?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean, that's all you did while I wasn't home?"  
  
"Pretty much."  
  
"No wild parties?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"No drunk truckers named Bubba?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"No sober truckers named Bubba?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"So no trucker named Bubba, then?"  
  
"No, Mom. I'm sorry to disappoint you."  
  
"Eh, that's okay." Lorelai plopped down next to Rory and shoved a fistful of popcorn into her mouth. "So nothing exciting, then?"  
  
"Well, Dean gave me a rose."  
  
"Awww, how sweet!"  
  
"Yeah, but it was kinda weird. I was watching the movie and the doorbell rang, but when I went to answer it, no one was there except for this rose and there was a little envelope taped to it. So I went in the kitchen and read the note, but it says 'I want to tell you who I am, but I can't' or something like that." Rory explained, complete with hand gestures.  
  
"Huh. Weird."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Can I read the note?"  
  
"Yeah, it's still in the kitchen." They both got up and headed to the other room. Lorelai picked the note up off of the table and studied it quietly for a few seconds and then looked up at Rory. "That was quick."  
  
"Yeah, well, you get your reading skills from somewhere."  
  
"Grandpa."  
  
"Right. Well, this is practically gossip."  
  
"Ah." Rory nodded. "So isn't it a little freaky?"  
  
"Actually, yes. It doesn't seem like it's from Dean, though."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Dean seems like the kind of guy that actually would HAND a girl flowers, rather then leaving a rose mysteriously on her porch." Rory plucked the note out of Lorelai's hand.  
  
"So you don't think it was him?"  
  
"I don't know sweetie."  
  
"But who else could it be?"  
  
"Umm.Jess?" She suggested.  
  
"Okay, Mom, Jess and I are just friends, and anyway, that's not something he would write." Rory denied.  
  
"Kirk?"  
  
"Ewww, Mom!"  
  
"Taylor?"  
  
"Okay, blocking you out now."  
  
"Luke. Bootsy." Lorelai yelled after Rory, who was running into her room. "Andrew!" 


	2. The Second Rose

*Sorry these chapters are so short. I was up until 5:19 this morning writing the final three chapters, and I like those so much, I'm just kind of rushing through these, which I really shouldn't. Also, I'm at my Dad's this weekend, so I wouldn't have been able to update or even write until Sunday, so . *  
  
"So it wasn't you?" Rory asked Dean again. It was the next afternoon and they were sitting at a table for two in the diner, a burger and fries set before both of them.  
  
"No, Rory, it wasn't me. Call me old fashioned, but I'd rather hand you the flowers." He took a sip of his coke. 'How predictable.' Rory thought. "Do you think someone's playing a joke on you?" He asked.  
  
"I don't know." She mumbled. "Maybe. I don't like it, if it is."  
  
"Neither do I." Dean watched as Rory despondently chewed on a fry. "If it's not a joke, or even if it is, who do you think it could be?" She thought for a moment.  
  
"I don't know." He glanced at Jess, who was wiping down a newly vacant table. She followed her boyfriend's gaze.  
  
"You think its Jess?" Dean shrugged.  
  
"I don't know, Rory. I mean, it's not like he hasn't played a joke before. And if it's not a joke . I still think he likes you."  
  
"No. Dean. Jess and I are-."  
  
"Just friends." He interrupted. "Yeah, I know." He looked at his watch. "I have to get to work." Dean stood up. "I'll see you later." He leaned down and kissed her.  
  
"Bye." Rory sighed and looked down at her nearly empty plate, and then across at Dean's, still half-full of fries. She pushed hers out of the way and slid his across the table. She picked up a fat French fry and watched Jess maneuver himself around the room, wondering if it really could be him.  
  
(6 Days later; the next Friday)  
  
Rory grabbed her bursting backpack out of the backseat and followed Lorelai up the porch. She stopped. "Huh. Rory, look." She pointed to a rose, this time light purple. The younger Gilmore eagerly picked it up and ripped open the card.  
  
Dear Rory, Hi! Me again, sorry if I'm scaring you, because I really don't mean to. I would try to comfort by saying that I don't actually come to your house to deliver these myself, I have other people do it, but how could you believe me? I mean, you don't even know who I am, right? If it does help, though, I don't deliver them myself. Anyway, lavender means 'love at first sight', 'enchantment', and 'uniqueness'. I'm not really sure if I love you so, really, it just means that I knew you were special at first sight. Or something. Enchantment, because you enchant me, you never cease to amaze me. And uniqueness because you are so unique in so many ways, that it amazes me. See you soon. Me  
  
Lorelai read over her daughter's shoulder. "Wow. He is a sweetie."  
  
"Yeah." Rory agreed, wanting desperately to know whom the mystery guy was. They headed into the kitchen and dropped their stuff.  
  
"Wait. How do we know it's a guy?"  
  
"Mom!"  
  
"What? It's the twenty-first century, Sweets. These things are possible."  
  
"Ewww, now I'm going to have nightmares." She groaned, resulting in an evil grin from Lorelai.  
  
"I try. So does Dean still think its Jess?" Rory nodded. "And we're sure it's not Dean?"  
  
"Almost positive. And if it is him, he's doing a pretty good job of being protective of me from himself." She said.  
  
"Right. I think Dean might start hiring his friends to be with you when he isn't. But, then he might think its them, resulting in mass confusion, so maybe you'll have a guy bodyguard that, you know, likes other guys."  
  
"You've been watching too many 'Real World' episodes." She unzipped her backpack. "And he's not that bad." Lorelai stifled a giggle. "He just wants me to be safe!" She defended.  
  
"Honey, he wants to keep you IN a safe." 


End file.
